Mechanical musical instrument.



A. E. WHITEHEAD. MECHANICAL MUSICAL INSTRUMENT.

APPLICATION FILED DEC. 9, I910.

Patented May 30, 1916.

2 SHEETSSHEET I.

A. E. WHITEHEAD.

MECHANICAL MUSICAL msmumsm. APPLICATION FILED DEC- 9. 1910- 1,185,035. Patented May 30,1916.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

' full,

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

AURA E. WHITEI'IEAZD, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR T0 III-IE CABLE COMPANY, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION OF ILLINOIS.

MECHANICAL MUSICAL INSTRUMENT.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Ma 30, 1916.

Application filed December 9, 1910. Serial No. 596,471.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, AURA E. WHITE- HEAD, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Mechanical Musical Instruments, of which the following is a clear, concise, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawing, forming a part of this specification.

My invention relates to mechanical musical instruments, and especially to a form of instrument commonly known as a player piano.

The principal object of the invention is to permit easy and convenient access to the piano mechanism proper, and especially to the strings of the piano, so as to allow repairing or tuning, and for other purposes.

In the arrangement herein shown for can rying out my invention, the tracker box carrying the music spools and cooperating mechanism, the whole constituting what may be called the superstructure, is mounted upon a sliding platform or support, which is arranged to slide forwardly and downwardly and thereby bring the tracker box and associated parts into a forward and downward position. This moves the superstructure out of the way, as it were, and allows ready access to the piano strings and other parts for tuning and other purposes.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a view, in vertical section, of the upper portion of a player piano embodying my invention; Fig. 2 is a perspective view of a portion of the same, showing certain parts in detail; Fig. 3 is an elevationof the upper portion of the player piano with certain of the front boards removed for convenience of illustration.

Referring to the drawings, I have shown a player piano having a case 1, keys 2 and removable front panel 3, of the usual or any preferred construction. The piano hammere 4 are shown operated by some suitable form of pneumatic mechanism 5, which forms no part of my present invention. A tracker box 6 is shown at the upper portion of the piano case, the same preferably comprising side pieces 7, 7 and top and bottom pieces 8' and 9, respectively. The tracker board 10 and the music spools 11 and 12 are carried by the tracker box 6, and tubes 14:

extend down from tl e tracker board to the pneumatic mechanism 5. The music sheet 15 is shown extended between the music spools 11 and 12 and passing over the tracker board 10. To the right of the tracker box, referring to Fig. 3, is a motor 16 for driving the music spools, and suitable gearing or mechanism is shown between the motor and music spools for operating the latter in the usual manner.

Both the tracker box 6 and motor 16 are mounted upon a horizontal shelf or support 17, which extends from side to side of the piano casing. The ends of this support are mounted upon cheek blocks 18, 18, which are secured firmly to the support 1'? and are arranged to slide upon guide strips 19 secured to the sides of the piano casing in an inclined position, the forward ends of said guide strips being lower than the rear ends. Metallic clips or hooks 20 are secured to the sides of the piano casing, as shown in Fig. l, and provided with projections 21 adapted to engage notches 2'2 in the lower edge of the cheek blocks 18. Thus the support 17 with the tracker box and motor upon it, may be slid forwardly and downwardly so as to lower the tracker box and motor and form a space toward the top of the piano case, by which access can be had to the interior of the case, and to the piano strings for tuning, etc. The tracker box in this lowered position is shown in dotted lines in Fig. 1. In such position the tube connections between the tracker board and the pneumatic playing mechanism are advanced at their upper ends and also lowered, as also shown in dotted lines in Fig. 1. This allows the desired movement of the tracker box and associated parts without injuring at all the pneumatic tubes and, at the same time, these tubes do not interfere with the desired movement or manipulation of the tracker box. The support 17 is maintained normally in its upper and rear position by the engagement of the projections 21 with the notches 22, and is also held in a lowered position by said projections engaging other notches 22.

It will be understood that changes and modifications can be made without departing from the spirit of the invention.

What I claim is:

1. The combination with a pneumatic action, of a tracker box mounted above the same,,tubes extending between said action and tracker box, and means for permitting said tracker box to be moved downwardly and forwardly from its normal location without disturbing the connections of said tubes and for maintaining said box in an upright position during such movement.

2. The combination with a pneumatic action, of a tracker box, tubes extending be tween said action and trackerbox, and means for permitting said tracker box to be moved downwardly and forwardly from its playing position without disturbing the connection of said tubes and for holding said box in playing position in its lowered location.

3. The combination with a pneumatic action, of a tracker box, tubes extending between said tracker box and action, and cooperating guides and guideways whereby said tracker box may be slid bodily and in an upright position in a direction downwardly and forwardly from its normal location.

4:. The combination of a tracker box and motor, a horizontally arranged support carrying said box and motor, and means for permitting said support to slide downwardly and forwardly from its playing position while remaining in a horizontal position.

5. The combination of a tracker box, inclined guides whereby said tracker box may be slid forwardly and downwardly from its normal position, and cheek blocks carried by said tracker box and provided with in clined guideways adapted to cooperate with said inclined guides whereby said tracker box is maintained in an upright position in moving backwardly and forwardly on said guides.

6. The combination of a tracker box, a pneumatic action, tubes extending between said tracker box and pneumatic action, and means for permitting said box to move obliquely with reference to said action while said box remains upright without disturbing the connection of said tubes.

7. The combination of a pneumatic action, a horizontally arranged support, tubes supported at.one end by said support and having their other ends connected with said action, and means for permitting downward and forward movement of said support from its playing position and for main taining said support in horizontal position during such movement thereof without disturbing the connections of said tubes.

8. In a device of the class described in combination, an automatic action, a tracker box and motor mounted upon a common supporting board independent of said action, guides for supporting said board having a downward and forward inclination, and tracker tubes connected to said box and said action and having an upward and forward direction from said action to said box, the line of said tubes forming an angle with the line of said guides which approximates a right angle whereby said box may be moved downwardly and forwardly while maintaining the normal connection of said tubes.

9. A pneumatically operated piano comprising in combination, a case, a set of strings mounted in a vertical plane in the rear part of said case and extending to the upper part of said case, a roll-holding box mounted in front of said strings in the upper part of said case, a transverse board on which said box is supported, guides attached to said case and sloping in a downward direction from the rear to the front of said case, grooved blocks attached to said board and engaging said guides and being provided with a plurality of notches, and latches carried by said case for engaging said notches to hold said blocks in either forward or rear position.

10. A pneumatically operated piano comprising in combination, a case, a set of strings mounted in a vertical plane in the rear part of said case and extending to the upper part of said case, a roll-holding box mounted in front of said strings in the upper partof said case, a transverse board on which said box is supported, guides attached to said case and sloping in a downward direction from the rear to the front of said case, grooved blocks attached to said board and engaging said guides and being provided with a plurality of notches, latches carried by said case for engaging said notches to hold said blocks in either forward or rear position, an action carried in said case, and tubes running from said action to said roll-holding box, said tubes be ing approximately perpendicular to said guides.

In witness whereof, I hereunto subscribe my name this first day of December A. D., 1910.

AURA E. VHITEHEAD.

lVitnesses:

PAUL B. KLUGH, J. CLARKE HAGEY.

Oopiu of thin patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner 0! ratuts. Washington, D. G. 

